High School Days
by F.A. Star Hawk
Summary: AU. Sena had known that going to Oonishi High School would be different, maybe even life changing, he just didn't know how much. Shin/Sena.
1. Chapter 1

FASH: This is my very special gift for Shin/Sena fans who were probably disappointed that, even though the PD poll ended in a tie, I went ahead and chose Agon anyways. And it's always fun to write some good ol' multi-chaptered fics for this pairing.

Disclaimer: Oh man, the things I would do if I owned it...

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

Sena stared up at the building ahead of him, vaguely wondering if laughing at the sight would make him look crazy.

He quickly decided that he didn't care _too_ much and chuckled lightly to himself, ignoring everything and everyone but the academy before him.

He'd made it, he'd actually been able to make it into _Oonishi High School_, and now he was finally here.

He was so happy that he could, in fact, laugh _or_ cry _hysterically_, or both at the same time. But for the sake of keeping up a slightly more sane appearance he resisted the urges and kept to his soft chuckling.

Oonishi Middle School and High School, founded by the late Oonishi Keigo, were originally for wealthy students, period. It had only been recently that the high school division started giving out scholarships for students with excellent grades. And Sena, although his family was the epitome of middle class, and who wasn't scholastically sharp, had been accepted anyways.

Why?

The high school's most recent development, sports scholarships.

How did someone as average as him manage to get here on athletic skill alone? Well, it was quite a story, if he did say so himself.

His best friend during middle school, after discovering that he'd spent his first year as an errand boy again, had pretty much forced him to join a club so that he'd make friends and gain some more upperclassmen who'd protect him, Sena really hadn't thought he'd excel at all. For too many years he'd felt useless, only good for being a gopher and not much else.

But the track and field team had changed that. Apparently all those years running errands had actually helped him, because a short time after he joined the team's captain had realized his potential and had given Sena a workout regime that would increase his speed and stamina.

During grade eight he'd driven himself to improve so much, too elated at the thought of being useful to worry that all of his training was isolating him from his peers outside of the track club.

Although Sena wasn't very good at hurdles, or really any of the other events besides sprinting (he could hardly lift a shot put ball with one hand, let alone throw it), by grade nine a fair number of his underclassmen on the team were worrying about how his graduation would affect their overall standing, and he'd been worrying about what high school he should try out for.

That's when someone from Oonishi High School had approached him, informing him that they'd seen Sena's running and were very interested in using his talents to make Oonishi an even more remarkable school.

How could he say no? Even if it was in the Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku Island, a fair distance from his beloved Tokyo, he'd never get a chance to go to such an elite school again.

And so here he was, standing in front of the main building, dumbstruck.

It took him several minutes to collect himself and go inside, pausing in front of a map for a moment in order to orient himself before moving on.

He made his way to the Dorm Manager's office, happy to see that a giant line hadn't formed. He'd decided to wait a while before moving in to the dorms to miss the rush, and he was incredibly glad for his foresight.

He knocked on the door and slowly entered when a muffled voice told him to come in.

Sitting behind a desk inside was a middle aged man, looking much like he'd rather be anywhere but there at the moment.

"Name?" He asked lazily, idly twirling a pencil in his fingers.

"Kobayakawa Sena."

"Kobayakawa? K. K. Where are the K's?" He shuffled through the papers on his desk slowly, starting to speak again without looking up.

"First things first, our school's dormitories were built to be different from the norm." He looked up from his papers for a moment, as if to assure himself that Sena was listening, and after making sure he had the brunette's attention he looked back down at his papers, speaking in a lazy sort of drawl.

"Each different floor is divided into two living spaces for two groups of up to eight, because of something about making the dorms seem more like an actual _home away from home_." Here he sighed and muttered something about pampered students under his breath. "We have six sets of dorms, three for girls, three for boys, each on opposite ends of the main school buildings. They used to be divided by grade, but a couple years back someone mentioned the pros of inter-grade interactivity, so Kobayakawa," he drew out a single sheet of paper. "You're going to end up with some upperclassmen that will help fill you in on anything you might not understand."

"Ah, I see..." Why was he being given a history lesson about the dorms? Not that he wanted to be disrespectful or anything, but couldn't he just get his room number, key and leave?

The Dorm Manager seemed to understand his confusion and quickly added. "The school board is very proud of it, so they make me tell all the newcomers about it. The higher ups like flaunting their elite-ness."

Oh, well, that sort of made sense.

"Now then, you're in the third dorm building on the Eastern side of the campus, second floor... _Section A_." He rose an eyebrow for some reason before giving Sena a quick once over.

He was starting to get a bad feeling about this...

"Um... Do you have the key?" Sena slowly asked and the older man shrugged.

"I haven't had the time to go and make copies of all the dorm keys yet. Due to the recent sports scholarship program that the school started up we have more first years coming than third years going. I should be able to get you a new key before classes start up."

"But then... How am I supposed to get in?"

"Knock."

"... Oh..."

The man sighed. "If no one answers, you can just go in, those guys normally only lock their door at night. If by some strange chance it is locked, ask the security officer on the first floor to unlock it for you."

"Do they really not lock their door often? But isn't that dangerous? What if a... A serial killer or a thief managed to get in?"

"Even if an intruder with malicious intent managed to bypass security and get into _Section A_, I'd be more worried about _him_." Sena blinked sharply and paled, what kind of monsters was he going to be boarding with?!

"And if a thief managed to get in, well..." He scoffed. "You'll see why that isn't an issue when you see the place."

Apparently, because if these guys could take out a serial killer, a thief would certainly be no problem.

Sena made his way across campus to the male's dorm buildings, quickly finding the one with a large metal number three above the entrance to the foyer.

He entered the dormitory and turned right to the Section A stairs, climbing up to the second floor eagerly. He paused upon reaching the landing leading to the front door to re-adjust his bag, straighten out his clothing and make sure his hair wasn't _too_ wild.

'Alright, this is it, you only get one shot at a good first impression.'

He knocked on the door and waited for a moment.

The door stayed shut.

'Maybe they're all out?' Sena looked at the doorknob nervously. 'The Dorm Manager did say that they normally locked the door only at night...' He reached out, gripped the handle and turned.

The door opened with a ghastly sounding squeak that made him wince.

'I'm going to have to fix that once I-' Sena stopped and stared, horrified at the sight in front of him. 'Oh my God...'

Now he knew why a thief wouldn't be a problem, this place was a complete mess! If someone came in here when it was dark without a fair amount of caution they'd be likely to trip over something and crack their skull open, and they'd probably never be able to find anything of value with so much junk lying around.

'How did it get this bad so fast? I'm sure that the school only started allowing new people to move into the dorms a week or so ago. And even if there are a bunch of people who haven't changed dorms since last year, this is a _bit much_.'

Sena took a cautious step inside.

"H-hello?" He called softly as he weaved through stacks of old newspapers, sports magazines, bags of trash that hadn't been thrown out yet and a myriad of other things that really shouldn't be laying around. The only completely clear spots in the hall were in front of the doors to the bedrooms.

'How can people live like this?'

Honestly, he knew that the majority of the people going to this school were probably rich kids who weren't used to doing housework, but how could anyone let themselves slip so far?

He paused as he reached the entrance to the living room, which was cleaner than the entrance and hallway, although there were still a lot of tripping hazards lying around, and moved on to the kitchen where he very nearly slipped on a mysterious substance that had fallen onto the tiled floor, and internally wept at the sight of dirty dishes piling up in the sink.

Well, dirty dishes and a bit of countertop clutter were probably normal in this situation, and the living room, although a bit extreme, could still be considered ordinary, but the hallway...

'Oh God, what if the rooms are just as messy as the hallway?' He felt a little faint at the thought, but didn't have the courage to open up any of the doors in the hall. He was worried, but intruding in someone's room was rude, and Sena did not want to offend people who could apparently take out a serial killer.

But at the same time...

'I... I just can't stay here if it's like this...' He set his backpack down on the cleanest available surface, the coffee table in the living room.

And so, with nothing better to do, he started cleaning up the _dreadful_ hallway and entrance.

'They'd better have a good excuse for living like this, I don't care if I have to do the housework all the time, since I don't want to contract any mysterious diseases, but they had better have an excuse other than: I'm too lazy to clean.' He told himself after he had sorted out the recyclables and trash in the entry way and was in the process of kicking it to the curb.

Of course, it was easy to be angry at them when they weren't around, but Sena had the feeling his irritation would probably melt away upon meeting his dorm mates, probably to be replaced by fear. He had no friends in this school after all, he was quite alone for the first time since before he'd joined the track team.

He was just coming back from his _fifth_ trip to the dumpster when he noticed something was off.

The door to the living quarters was open, and he had always closed it when he left the place.

He tiptoed up the rest of the stairs, listening intently for any voices.

"It can't be him, he's still training, and Marco went on a date with that third year girl he met while he was moving in yesterday."

"Well someone's been cleaning up while we were out. You don't suppose one of the guys hired someone to clean the place, do you?"

Sena reached the door and peeked inside, where two very tall teens were talking to each other.

'Are these the guys who could take out a serial killer? They're both really tall, around six feet, and they seem to have athletic builds...'

"I doubt anyone would bother, they've been here-" The one who had been talking, with dark hair and glasses, suddenly glanced at the doorway. "Ah, it looks as though we have a visitor, Sakuraba-kun."

"Huh?" The other boy turned to look and Sena immediately hid further behind the door frame.

"Are you the one that's been cleaning?" The one with glasses asked and Sena nodded tentatively, feeling a little less nervous when both of the older boys sent a reassuring smile his way.

"I'm Kobayakawa Sena, your new dorm mate."

"New? We have another one?" The fair haired boy asked in surprise, throwing a quick look over to the one with glasses.

"Eh? You weren't expecting me?"

"Don't worry, the Dorm Manager, you've probably met him, he's a bit... Laid back, he tends to do things, such as informing the individual Dorm Heads about various semi-important matters, at his own pace." The boy with glasses ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

"Well, in any case, I'm Sakuraba Haruto, and this is our Dorm Head, Takami Ichiro."

These two seemed pretty nice, maybe he could ask them about the mess without fearing for his life after all.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking... How exactly did this place..." He swept his hand in a vague gesture to accentuate the hallway, which was much cleaner than before, almost normal looking, but the two boys in front of him got the point.

"Ah, I'm afraid that Sakuraba-kun, Shin-kun and I are completely responsible for this. The three of us were on this floor last year as well, and since we knew we wouldn't be moving to a new floor we put off our spring cleaning."

Sena blinked, a phantom of a memory suddenly washing over him for some reason, but he quickly shook it away. It was probably just about how much he had hated spring cleaning back when he was a kid.

"Even so, I'm surprised that you managed to let it get, uh..." He trailed off, unsure if continuing to bring up the topic of how bad it was would put him on his dorm mates' bad sides.

"Well, we practice a lot, even when it's not game season." Sakuraba explained, rubbing at the back of his neck in embarrassment. "When we came here after warming down, we'd usually just order take out, eat, then sleep."

Sena's eyes widened in alarm.

He had club activities, and he often practised way more than anyone expected him to, but he'd always find the time to do the household chores his mother assigned to him.

Either these guys trained like complete maniacs, even more than he did, or they _were_ lazy.

Sena didn't know which one he'd prefer.

"In our defence we were cleaning out our rooms, so everything just sort of accumulated in this hallway." Takami made a gesture with his hand towards the floor.

"Ah, so you just had a little mess everywhere, but then you concentrated it in one place so that you could clean that one area and be done with it in one go?"

"Pretty much, we were going to do it tomorrow."

Sena sighed in relief. 'They're not slobs, they just don't have much time on their hands, and things tend to pile up before they can handle them.'

And the rooms would be clean! Thank goodness.

"I suppose that since you got the ball rolling we may as well tidy up the living room tonight though. We could finish de-cluttering the hall completely tomorrow." Takami said, looking thoughtful as he turned around.

"But what about the kitchen?" Sakuraba asked, trailing behind the older boy and biting his lip. "I don't like washing dishes, touching old, cold bits of food disturbs me."

"That job can be left for the others, since they're all out at the moment."

"Oh, I'd rather do it now than leave it for later, so you guys can take care of the living room while I start on the kitchen." Sena offered, eager to make himself useful.

Takami turned to look at him, gentle smile in place. "Sena-kun, some of the other first years may be particularly spoiled, if you keep cleaning up after them they're going to start expecting it of you." He patted Sena's shoulder lightly, glasses glinting in an almost eerie fashion. "No work and all play is what most of the students who go here are used to, it's best to keep up a small amount of discipline to keep them from becoming too rowdy and self important."

"O-okay, I'll leave the kitchen for everyone else."

"So, uh, where's the rest of your stuff?" Sakuraba broke in, glancing at Sena's bag briefly before gathering up various magazines and books that had been strewn about the area and placing them on a small bookshelf.

"My luggage should arrive tomorrow, I just brought along some stuff for today and tomorrow in my backpack."

"Do you think you'll need help unpacking?" The blonde asked as he and Takami sorted out the more personal items in the living room, occasionally asking the other if they knew what belonged to who.

"I should be fine, but thanks for the offer." Sena smiled as he watched them work, happy that, no matter what his other dorm mates might be like, he at least had two down to Earth upperclassmen.

The two older boys were about half finished with their cleaning when Sena was able to briefly meet Satake and Yamaoka, two first years like himself, before they quietly slipped into their room, cheeks pink and hiding a bag from a convenience store behind their backs.

Takami had mumbled something that had sounded suspiciously like "perverts" under his breath, but Sena wasn't close enough to be certain.

Once they were finished cleaning they sat down on the couch opposite to the chair Sena had perched himself on, basking in the cleanliness that surrounded them for a couple minutes before Takami cautiously moved into the kitchen to make some tea. Soon enough the trio were amicably chatting, sipping at their slightly too hot tea every so often.

As the friendly small talk veered towards the shock Sakuraba and Takami had felt upon finding their hallway quite different from how they'd left it that morning Sakuraba's eyebrows began to furrow and he slowly ventured to ask:

"Just out of curiosity, were you able to come in because someone left the door unlocked, or did the Dorm Manager give you a key?"

"I don't have one yet, actually. The Dorm Manager said he hadn't had time to make copies of the keys yet."

Takami and Sakuraba sighed in unison. "I thought so."

"Still, this is the first time since I've been here that all eight spots in this section are taken, and I've heard the other dorms are pretty full as well." Takami mused aloud. "Getting all those extra keys cut and sorted may take a while."

"It must be because our school started up that sports scholarship program. Now people who don't necessarily have enough money or book-smarts to get in can be accepted as long as they're good at a sport of some sort."

Sena silently pursed his lips, unsure if he should say anything about this particular topic.

Not too long after that Sena was able to meet another one of his dorm mates, although 'meet' was perhaps a bit of a stretch.

Gaou was a rather terrifying individual, so tall and muscular that at first Sena hadn't believed that he was a first year like him. Takami had tried to introduce him, but Gaou had cast him a glance, sizing him up and apparently, although Sena could be misunderstanding something, deeming him not worthy enough to stick around for.

He retreated to his room, and although Sena felt somewhat insulted at the lack of greeting when he himself had conquered his alarm fast enough to stutter out a 'hello' to the other boy, he wasn't going to get cross with someone who could probably snap him in half.

Sure he was pretty confident in himself now, but Gaou was, well, himself, and he was also one of Sena's dorm mates. Fighting was not allowed.

Marco had come in not long after Gaou, practically radiating happiness. He'd politely greeted Sena and had smiled quite charmingly when Sakuraba asked him how his date had gone, reminiscing. He left after taking several minutes to explain the details of his perfect date by excusing himself to his room to finish unpacking. He at least seemed like a fairly social individual, unlike his frightening roommate.

"Would you like us to show you to your room? It's not like you'll be intruding or anything, and Shin-kun sometimes takes a while to come back after he's gone for his evening jog."

"Oh, I'd rather wait to meet Shin-san out here." Sena paused momentarily, the phantom of a memory creeping back, just out of his reach. "I... I feel like it would be rude if I went in before he came back, in case there's anything he doesn't want me to see. I was unexpected, after all."

Takami smiled. "My, you were brought up very well weren't you? Etiquette is one thing in a school such as this, but manners such as yours are quite refreshing. Which middle school did you go to?"

"Oh, uh, just a normal public one." Sena responded vaguely.

"Really? Did your parents rightfully think that having you attend a public school would allow you to remain sensible? What do your parents do?" Takami leaned forward slightly, eyes bright with curiosity.

Sena squirmed a little but was thankfully saved from having to answer when the door opened and closed with an ominous squeak.

He was really going to have to fix that before it gave him nightmares.

"Ah, and the last dorm mate finally arrives. He'll be the one sharing a room with you. He seems pretty scary, but he's really a nice guy."

Somehow Sena wasn't reassured.

'Well, he can't be scarier than Gaou-kun, right?'

"And here he is." Takami gestured to the dark haired boy who had just entered the living room.

"Sena, this is-"

"Shin-san." Sena interrupted, eyes wide. "He's Shin Seijuro-san."


	2. Chapter 2

FASH: Thank you for waiting, there were a bunch of really bad storms in my area yesterday; tornado warnings, power going out, the whole she-bang. Holy mother of God, my sister had to drive through the storm and she was terrified.

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

Shin blinked and stared at him before making a noncommittal sound from the back of his throat in what Sena assumed was supposed to be a greeting, before dropping the duffle bag he'd been carrying to the floor and turning back around.

"Wait Shin, where are you going? It's almost time for curfew." Sakuraba reminded, quickly stealing glances of both his stoic friend and Sena.

"I'm just jogging around the campus once more, I have not yet properly cooled down my muscles." Shin replied without turning around.

"Oh, okay, just remember not to take too long."

The unnerving squeak of the door was Shin's answer.

The fair haired boy sighed and mumbled something about training maniacs under his breath.

"So Sena, I would be right to conclude that you and Shin-kun know each other?" Takami asked, adjusting his glasses absentmindedly.

Sakuraba's attention immediately snapped onto the brunette and Sena shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

"Well, we're acquainted with each other, but only because my grandparents are Shin-san's grandparent's gar- good friends."

It wasn't a complete lie, they were good friends, but Sena wasn't sure how well middle class kids were treated in an elite school like this, even if Takami, Sakuraba and Marco were quite nice Sena wasn't naive enough to think that everyone was like them. It would probably be better not to mention that his grandparents were the Shin family's _gardeners_.

"Oh? That sounds interesting, so did you meet up a lot when you were younger?"

"No, not very much at all, we rarely visited our grandparents at the same time, I can count on one hand how many times I've met him, and the last time I saw him was during the summer when I was in my first year of middle school."

"So it's been nearly three full years since you've last seen each other? I suppose that's why Shin-kun didn't seem to recognize you, but..." Takami trailed off, eyebrows furrowing. "Usually he's a little more polite."

"Well, you know Shin." Sakuraba cut in with a shrug. "Training takes priority in his life. He probably would have been nicer if he'd completely cooled down before meeting Sena."

Sena was convinced that wouldn't have been the case, _at all_.

"In any case, Shin-kun really isn't the type to have anything inappropriate at all, let alone lying around in clear sight, so you don't need to give him time to clear up the room before you go in."

"Ah, that's true." Sena would be shocked if someone as serious looking as Shin had something to hide.

"Your room is the last room on the left from the entrance, so the first room on the right from here." Sakuraba helpfully supplied as Sena stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Thank you, I should be able to get myself settled in just fine. Good night."

"Have a good rest."

Sena shuffled over to his room and found himself cautiously opening the door, despite knowing that no one else was inside. He stepped in and gazed around at the furniture; two dressers, two desks, two chairs, two laundry baskets, one bunk bed.

'But which bunk is mine?'

Both beds were equipped with blankets, pillows, and were perfectly made. Sena bit his lip as he carefully looked the bunk bed up and down, trying to find any evidence that would indicate which one wasn't taken without luck.

He glanced around the room once more, feeling a little edgy, before his eyes settled on a door on the wall opposite to the entrance. With nothing better to do he strode towards it and peaked inside, letting out a low whistle when it turned out to be a fair sized bathroom. He stepped into the area and began digging through his bag to pull out his toiletries, setting them down on the sink's countertop and fusing over how to position everything. After it was all in perfect order he stripped out of his clothes and slipped into his pajamas before brushing his teeth.

By the time he exited the bathroom Shin had reappeared, sitting on the bottom bunk as he took off his socks.

"So I've got the top bunk?" Sena asked and Shin briefly glanced up at him before standing and moving over to one of the two dressers to grab a pair of pajamas before wordlessly moving to the bathroom.

"... Okay, top bunk it is then." He set his bag down next to the empty dresser before climbing up the ladder to the top bunk. He sat down on the blankets, tapping his fingers against the guard rail absentmindedly as he wondered if he should try and make some light conversation with his roommate before they both went to sleep.

'But there's no guarantee that he would join in on the conversation, in fact, it seems highly unlikely.' He went rigid as Shin exited the bathroom and deposited his dirty clothes into a laundry basket.

"Sh-Shin-san? Do you remember me at all?" Sena questioned after summoning up every cubic measurement of courage he had.

Shin didn't turn towards him, but Sena could see him give a slight nod.

'Alright, don't be spineless Sena, talking to Shin-san isn't such a big deal.' "I was surprised to see you again, it's been a long time."

Shin didn't answer in a vocal or physical manner, Sena's comment seeming to roll off of him much like water off a duck's back.

'This is awkward...' Sena kept his eyes glued to Shin's form as the other boy walked towards the door.

"It seems like-"

_Click._

Shin had turned the light switch off.

He was being ignored, wasn't he? He was definitely being ignored.

'Well, it's not like Shin-san ever paid too much attention to me whenever we saw each other in the first place, but this is a bit depressing, since we're room mates and all.' He lifted the blankets up and pulled them over him with a sigh. 'This is sort of like the first time I remember meeting him.'

"G-goodnight, Shin-san." He called lightly, not entirely too surprised when he only received a grunt in answer.

'He talks to Sakuraba-san just fine. I really must have done something bad the actual first time I met him.' Sena tightly shut his eyes, desperately trying to draw up long forgotten memories.

The first time he _remembered_ meeting Shin, their second ever meeting, he had just turned six and was going to visit his grandparents for Christmas.

After working for the Shin family for so long, and becoming very good friends with each other, Sena's grandparents had been invited to move into the Shin residence, which the elderly Shin couple had complained felt empty with the absence of their children.

Sena's grandparents had decided the move was a good idea and had sold their previous house.

Which meant that by visiting his own grandparents, he'd also inadvertently be visiting the Shin family.

He hardly even remembered their second meeting, but he knew that the slightly older boy had been polite but distant, only nodding or shaking his head to whatever questions Sena asked him.

'Come to think of it... I'm not sure if he's ever spoken directly to me.' Sena sighed into his pillow.

Seeing Shin talk to someone who he wasn't related to just cemented Sena's belief that he'd done something incredibly stupid the first time they met, and Shin had never completely forgiven him for it. Holding a grudge for something that happened when Sena had been, what,_ four_, seemed like a petty thing to do, but Sena didn't know Shin well enough to know if he was the type to never forgive and never forget.

Sena shifted restlessly, somehow unable to become comfortable when he knew that Shin was just below him, possibly glaring up and mentally cursing Sena for prancing into his life.

It took a lot of time, tossing and turning, but eventually Sena was able to fall asleep.

He awoke fairly early the next morning out of habit, immediately tensing up and opening a single eye just a fraction to ensure that Shin wasn't for some reason standing on the ladder, staring down at him with malice filled eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found no spiteful person in his immediate vicinity, but he slowly hung his head over the side of the guard rail to assure himself that Shin wasn't glaring up at the top bunk.

He was grateful to find the bed below his empty and he quickly slid down the ladder and dug into his backpack for a fresh change of clothes before moving into the bathroom for his morning shower.

Later he stepped out into the hallway feeling fresh and tranquil, the first obviously due to the shower and the second due to Shin's absence, and carefully made his way into the still messy kitchen to make himself some toast.

He'd just finished eating and was fretfully putting his dish in the overstuffed sink when he saw Sakuraba shuffling towards him with a horribly amusing case of bed-head.

Sena bit his lip in an effort not to smile, but found that he couldn't quite stop the corners of his lips from raising up. Sakuraba gazed at his expression sleepily for a moment before dim understanding settled over his features.

"Yeah, my hair likes to defy gravity in the morning." He said with a yawn before stumbling around to pour himself a glass of orange juice. "I suppose Shin's already gone?"

"He wasn't around when I woke up. Does he always leave so early in the morning?"

"It's a habit for him to get up early, I think, and Shin dislikes being idle, so he's probably either in the school's gym or running around the campus."

Sena nodded in comprehension before settling himself down on a couch in the living room and glancing over the copy of the school's map that had been set out on the coffee table, trying to find the rooms that had been listed on his timetable.

After studying the map enough that he was pretty sure he knew where to go for what class he spent the better part of the morning lazing around the living room, flipping through magazines as Takami firmly ordered the others to clean the kitchen before the group decided to go out for some lunch. They invited Sena along, but the brunette declined, saying he'd like to wait for his luggage and could just cook something for himself.

Really he didn't have enough pocket money to go out to eat all the time, but no one else had to know that.

After everyone had left he searched through the fridge and cupboards for suitable ingredients and had just made himself some lunch and a mental note to go grocery shopping when there was a knock on the door. By the time he reached it there was no one on the other side, but a post-it note had been stuck near the door handle informing him that his luggage had been delivered downstairs.

Figuring he wasn't in that much of a hurry he leisurely ate his lunch before making his way to the ground level and retrieving his two suitcases from the security guard at the main desk.

He dragged them towards the Section A stairs, unable to help but think they were heavier than they ought to be. His mother had promised to do a final sweep of his room to make sure he had packed everything he needed, which probably meant that she efficiently re-packed each suitcase in order to fit as much stuff as physically possible.

Strength had, ironically, never been one of his strong points, and lugging his two over-packed suitcases up a couple flights of stairs was going to be troublesome, but he was stubborn and refused to take one up at a time.

He'd hardly made it up six steps before Shin silently passed him by, pausing and turning to give him a blank look before wordlessly taking both suitcases from Sena's hands.

Sena let him take them up the stairs, much too nervous to insist that he could carry it up himself.

Normally he might think that this was a gesture of goodwill, but Shin's furrowed eyebrows and slight frown seemed to suggest otherwise.

'I wonder if he's doing this to try and prove how inferior my strength is to his.' Sena mentally groaned, he didn't want to believe that someone with such nice grandparents was anything but amiable, but Shin's refusal to talk to him wasn't making this situation easy.

Shin set down his suitcases in the entryway to their dorm and Sena nervously thanked him, thinking it was better to be polite than to be rude and better his chances of having to face Shin's wrath.

He nearly tripped over himself when Shin murmured: "You're welcome" to him and had to stifle the urge to ask the older boy if he'd said anything.

Shin walked forward, completely unfazed, and Sena stared after him in shock, desperately trying to rationalize this strange occurrence.

Maybe, even if Shin didn't like him, his upbringing made it impossible for him to completely ignore situations where saying nothing would be considered impolite?

'That sort of makes sense...'

Maybe yesterday, like Sakuraba had thought, Shin had just been too focussed on training and his usual routine to mind his manners? But even if that was so, that didn't mean Shin disliked him any less, it just meant he didn't want to be discourteous.

'But still... That was the first time he's spoken directly to me.' Sena didn't know if he should be happy or stay alarmed, so he decided to focus on getting his luggage to his room and unpacking.

Upon entering he heard the sound of running water, indicating that Shin was taking a shower and wouldn't be loitering around the room to make things more awkward, so Sena quickly set to work emptying out his suitcases.

There were very few personal items nestled in amongst the new clothes his mother had bought him, firmly insisting that he not wear his uniform all the time while in the dorm, and even after he'd set all those items down on the top of the dresser, the wooden piece of furniture still looked quite bare.

He knelt in front of the dresser and gently ran a finger along a lacquered wooden picture frame containing a two year old photo of him and his parents, unable to stop a sigh from escaping his lips.

"How have your parents been?"

Sena promptly fell over, having been too out of it to hear that the shower had turned off and the bathroom door open. He quickly sorted the question out in his mind and turned to face Shin with a small smile, but the answered died on his lips.

It could have just been his imagination, still running rampant with the conclusion that Shin disliked him, or maybe Shin was just irritated by his wet bangs getting into his eyes, but the older boy appeared to be _glowering_ down at him.

Surely no one had that sort of look on their face as they asked questions unless they disliked the person they were questioning.

'S-scary.'

Sena somehow managed to pull himself together to answer before Shin lost interest and left. "Very good, and yours?"

"They have been quite well, thank you for asking." He replied before exiting the room, leaving Sena to puzzle over the last fifteen minutes.

'First he speaks directly to me, then he initiates a conversation of sorts with me, but all the while he looks as if he doesn't want to talk to me at all.'

God, Shin was a confusing individual, it would probably be better not to think about the anomaly that was he until Sena had been around long enough to see if Shin was like this to everyone else.

He began digging his clothes out of his suitcases and placing them inside drawers until the only thing left was something Sena hadn't expected.

"Oh, mom..." Sena reached out and grabbed onto the plushie that had been hidden under his sweaters, looking it over with a small smile.

He'd been rather distraught when he finally figured out that living in a dorm meant that he couldn't bring along his pet cat, and apparently that had been enough of a reason for his mother to search all the toy stores in their area to find a cat plushie that looked like Pitt.

He set the stuffed animal by the edge of his bed, just above the ladder, then he sneaked into the living room to grab some more magazines before going back to his own room and flipping through them lazily as he laid down on his bed.

He'd drifted off halfway through his second magazine and awoke slowly to the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing.

He sedately sat up and gazed down, blinking slowly as he absorbed what he saw in front of him.

Shin was silently staring up at the cat plushie with a look that Sena couldn't help but think had a distinct subtext of:_ I can't believe a male high school student has a stuffed animal on his bed._

"Takami-san says dinner will be here soon." Shin finally spoke up after a solid thirty seconds of staring.

"Ah, thank you, I'll be out in a minute."

Shin nodded and left, once again leaving Sena alone in their room.

'Getting used to this is going to be tough.'


	3. Chapter 3

FASH: Went to Wonderland yesterday and had my arms up the entire time on Behemoth, _scary_. Also, I listened to way too much Prince of Tennis music as I wrote this, so whenever I typed out Higa I kept on thinking of High Jr. High. (faceplam)

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

In the few days left before the first half-day of classes were held Sena had familiarized himself with the campus, had given himself a tour of the school, had memorized the spot where the track and field team would be meeting up after the first day and had finally received his own key from the Dorm Manager. He had also cautiously tried to start several light conversations with his room mate, but discovered that Shin had lapsed back into his habit of answering with nods, shrugs and grunts.

Thankfully he was able to talk freely with most of his other dorm mates, excluding Gaou, whom he was still slightly terrified of, and occasionally Satake and Yamaoka, who usually kept to themselves, but were generally a nice enough pair.

He was extremely happy when the first day of classes arrived; he'd returned to his custom of a morning run, although he'd limited himself to the school grounds for fear of getting lost if he ventured anywhere else, but running by himself was nothing like jogging around with team mates. He'd once even entertained the notion of waking up as early as Shin and asking the other boy if he could join him during his morning routine, the idea was quickly discarded though, as he quite enjoyed _living_.

A solid thirty minutes before classes were set to start the first years of Section A had been rounded up by their upperclassmen and Takami went through a checklist to ensure they had everything they needed. While it seemed a little extreme to be doing this for the half-day, the gesture was enough to make Sena feel more welcome than before.

"Everyone is sure they know where their homeroom is?" Takami asked lastly in his best upperclassman voice and looked quite pleased when the group of first years assembled in front of him nodded before shooing them off to their classes.

Now, Sena had seen quite a few people around the campus whenever he ventured outside, and he had known that, with such a large school, a great number of students must have attended it, but nothing really prepared him to go outside and see the multitude of students streaming into the the main building. The deep blue of their freshly ironed blazers, white of their crisp undershirts, and black of the girl's knee length pleated skirts and the boy's pants were constantly moving, giving off a nearly hypnotic impression of waves during a storm.

Sena wasn't even aware that he had paused until Marco waved a hand in front of his face, successfully braking the brunette's concentration on the sight in front of him.

"You looked rather like a moonstruck calf for a moment there, are you going to be alright?"

"Oh, yeah." 'Hopefully.' Sena tugged at his sleeves a little before walking forward with everyone else, becoming lost in the crowd on his way to his homeroom on the first floor.

The room was already half full by the time he got there, and he was fairly certain that there were several students who strongly resembled celebrities that he couldn't be bothered to remember the names of, but everyone in the room held themselves with a distinct amount of confidence, sometimes bordering on outright pride.

Sena could be confident when he was in his element; when he ran till his muscles ached and his lungs were burning and when he was surrounded by comrades who shared his passion, but that confidence had never fully translated itself into other situations, and it made him wonder how well he'd fit in.

He sat down in a seat beside the window in the second row and watched the rest of his classmates as they entered the room, a fair amount of them greeting others in a familiar, friendly way that he couldn't help but be slightly envious of. By the time everyone was inside and it was five minutes to the bell the only person he recognized in his homeroom class was Gaou, how _wonderful_.

'Well, I'll be able to make friends on the track and field team.' He cast a hopeful glance around, wondering if any of his classmates would be joining the same team as him. He hoped so, he'd have a pretty lonely time if all his new team mates were in different classes.

The day progressed as expected, with the teachers coming in, introducing themselves and going through the course outlines, with very few of them assigning any work further than reading a couple chapters of a textbook.

It _was_ only a half day, but Sena practically bolted out the door as soon as classes were officially over, eagerly making his way to the field behind the library where the track and field team would be meeting up. He was rather baffled to discover that he was the first person there, but he was somehow able to conjure enough patience to _not_ fidget impatiently until more people arrived a few minutes later.

There didn't seem to be too many upperclassmen, but then again Oonishi hadn't been very sport-focussed at all until very recently, so that wasn't all too surprising.

Still, Sena couldn't help but wonder how many members other teams had, and just how many people had been given a sports scholarship.

'Well, all that matters is that I have comrades.' He looked around and was pleased to see a couple of his classmates would be trying out, so he wouldn't end up completely alone in class after all.

Several upperclassmen were milling around, handing out forms and pens with polite smiles, and it wasn't long before Sena received the slip of paper.

He scanned over the questions curiously before writing his answers down and handing the paper back to one of the lingering members.

Once all the questionnaires had been filled out they were handed off to someone who Sena assumed was the team captain, and after leafing through the papers he took the whistle hanging around his neck and blew into it.

Everyone fell silent quickly and the young man introduced himself as Yamamoto, the team's captain, and after making sure he had everyone's attention he threw himself into a dramatic spiel, rolling up the papers in his hands and thwacking it against his open palm every once in a while to emphasize his points.

"Alright first years, Oonishi High School has always been the _best of the best_, but normally due to the amount of work given out in class, or _slothfulness_, many of our fellow students feel that joining a club would eat away at whatever free time they have left. As such, the Oonishi sports teams usually do not advance very far in tournaments."

"Huh? But I heard that the American football team has done really well, especially these last couple of years." One of the first years whispered to the one beside him and Yamamoto's cheeks darkened.

"Who cares about football?! You're on the track and field team!" He coughed into his fist and took a deep breath, regaining his calm composure.

"Now then, everyone has certain specialities when it comes to track and field, something they are especially good at. You would have listed those abilities when you filled out these forms." He waved the bunch of papers in the air lightly to emphasize them. "And from now on, you're going to practice-"

Sena smiled, eager to start practising his run with all the other runners.

"All the things you are weak at! The Oonishi track and field team has no use for one hit wonders! We've always needed well-rounded members to make up for a lack of people, and that's not going to change. So during club time no one will be practising their specialities until they are able to do a decent job at everything!"

Sena's smile vanished so quickly it was almost as if it had never been there.

He had to do a decent job at everything? _Everything_? But he could hardly pick up a shot put ball with one hand!

"Also, when you filled out these forms you should have listed the event you're worst at, that will be the event you start practising for. Firsts years who are weakest at running events gather by the track, for jumping events stay where you are, and for throwing events come with me to the baseball diamond. First day's just an evaluation so don't bother changing into your gym clothes, save that for tomorrow."

Sena, still shocked, numbly followed Yamamoto when the captain turned and began walking away, not even aware that others had followed as well until they had arrived at an old baseball diamond that had seen better days, mostly unused now that a new one had been created on the other side of the campus.

'I have to practice what I'm worst at: _shot put_.'

Sena didn't really want to do this, but he didn't have a choice. He'd been accepted on a scholarship after all, and if he couldn't manage to stay on the team and abide by the team's rules he'd probably be kicked out of the school.

He wished he'd been told about the team captain's expectations beforehand, so he'd be aware of what he was getting himself into.

'At least I'm not alone.' He thought to himself, sighing in relief as he looked around him at the three other first years with him.

"I'll be going to the storage room to get the shot put balls, javelins and discuses, you guys stay put." Yamamoto ordered before waking off.

"Man, this sucks." One of Sena's fellow first years whispered under his breath. "I only joined track and field because my parents wanted me to join a club anyways. What's with this 'practice what you're worst at' business."

"I know what you mean, this is totally lame." Another one said, running a hand through his hair. "I'd rather do what I'm best at and stand out right away. If this is what it's going to be like, I'd rather join a different club."

"Don't be like that, you guys." The third boy spoke up. "You must have decided to join this club for a reason, at least stick with it until the end of the first practice."

Sena nodded in firm agreement and the other two boys gave each a look before shaking their heads and turning to walk away.

"There's no way I'm bothering myself with this, I'll just join a club that has a bunch of girls."

"I see the notorious Oonishi spirit is showing itself." The only remaining boy other than Sena muttered before turning to him with a small smile. "I'm Higa Tadashi, my best track and field event is the high jump, my worst is the javelin throw." He held out his hand for a handshake and Sena weakly took hold of it.

"Kobayakawa Sena, my best track event is the one hundred meter sprint, my worst is shot put. Nice to meet you..." He took back his hand and warily looked over to where the other two boys had left. "Earlier, what did you mean about the Oonishi spirit?"

"Hm? Oh, you must not have gone to Oonishi Middle School if you don't know already. A lot of the people who come here are already set for life, and the scholarship students would rather improve their grades than do club activities, so sports teams and the like aren't really necessary to put on your resume to make yourself look better when you're looking for jobs."

"Ah, so they don't really have any drive."

Higa nodded, dark bangs falling over his eyes at the motion. "But I suppose the good thing about that is; even though the teams are generally small, the members all really enjoy what they're doing, so the teams tend to work better together. But when you don't have enough members for a replacement and someone gets sick, you're screwed." He smiled wanly, brushing his bangs away from his eyes.

"That's too bad." Sena laced his fingers together and tapped a foot idly, not wanting to force the conversation to go any further and make things awkward.

Yamamoto came back not long after, dragging a cart behind him with several boxes stacked on it. Upon seeing only Sena and Higa he seemed to deflate slightly, which made Sena feel guilty for some reason.

It wasn't as if he could have stopped the two other first years from leaving, but maybe he could have stalled them long enough for Yamamoto to come back and convince them to stay. Now they were down two people, and who knew how many other first years were planning to give up without even trying.

He resolved to do his best, worst event or not.

The first week of school, while not exactly a flurry of activity, kept Sena busy enough to keep him from wondering if Shin was ever going to warm up to him. During class he was busy writing notes, listening to lectures and attempting to be a good student, but it was after class when the real work started.

He practised throwing events with Higa during club time, not focussing completely on shot put because he didn't want to strain his arm _too_ much, and afterwards he'd go jogging around the campus at least twice before practising his throws some more.

He'd told Higa about his extra practice, and while the other boy had laughed and admitted that he'd been working on refining his best skills as well, he was quick to warn Sena not to strain himself.

It was sort of strange for someone to warn him about training too much, because, quite frankly, before being forced to practice something he wasn't good at he hadn't know there _was_ such a thing as training too much. But he promised Higa he wouldn't overdo it, and Sena always kept promises he made with his comrades.

That didn't mean he'd stop the extra training though.

He'd noticed the curious looks Sakuraba would throw his way, a silent question as to what he'd been up to, whenever he made it back to the dorm particularly late, although he _never _arrived later than Shin.

It made him wonder if anyone ever told Shin to be careful not to push himself too hard, but he quickly dismissed the notion because Shin would probably just stare the concerned person down until they felt the need to beg for forgiveness for having the audacity to think that Shin couldn't handle himself.

It was almost scary how easily Sena could imagine that happening.

When the weekend finally rolled around Sena tried to make quick work of his homework, but found himself having to spend longer finishing it up than he had originally planned. Which ultimately meant that he ended up staying out training longer than he originally thought he would, since he was a firm believer in training the same amount of time every day. His arms still hadn't become completely used to the sudden activity he was constantly putting them through, but he was nothing if not dedicated. It also helped to know that he wasn't the only one going through this.

'Higa-kun is trying his best, so I need to try my best too!'

He heard his name being called and turned to see Sakuraba walking towards him, the blonde cautiously throwing looks over his shoulder and creeping forward as if he thought someone were following him.

Sena blatantly peered behind Sakuraba, eyebrows raising just a fraction when he didn't catch sight anyone remotely suspicious.

Maybe Sakuraba was just a paranoid individual?

The blonde stopped in front of him and took a moment to look down at the shot put balls that littered the ground around Sena's feet before speaking.

"So this is why you've been coming back to the dorm late?"

Sena nodded. "Well, I've got to practice sometime, right?"

"Be that as it may, have you been taking any breaks while you train?"

Sena was going to mention his jogging, but figured that Sakuraba wouldn't see that as an actual break.

"Not really."

The blonde's look of shock quickly morphed into one of concerned exasperation. "You know Sena, you shouldn't strain yourself like this."

"I'll get used to it after a while, besides, it's kind of sad that a high school boy can barely throw a shot put ball a couple feet." Sena smiled wryly and turned around, picking up another shot put ball.

"Maybe... But you do realize that the shot put balls that your team captain gave you to practice with are the sixteen pound ones they'd use in Olympic men's competitions, and not the twelve pounders that high school competitions use, right?"

Sena very slowly turned back around to face him, eyes wide.

"I'll take that as a no." Sakuraba ran a hand through his hair, a frown pulling at his lips. "Really, what is that guy thinking, giving you the heavier ones to practice with before you've had time to get used to the lighter ones?"

"I'm sure he just wants me to push my limits and get stronger, since I've never really focussed on my strength before."

He'd never had to, in fact, he'd always been encouraged to just focus on his running and not worry about anything else. Besides, Yamamoto was the sort of person who wanted his team to push their limits, hence his practising shot put in the first place.

"Pushing yourself is okay, within reason, but if you keep this up you might get hurt..." Sakuraba pursed his lips in thought, feeling slightly responsible for Sena's well-being since the younger boy obviously wasn't going to start worrying about himself any time soon.

"You know, usually after training with my team I go to the weight room for a while, we could meet up in there after practice and I could spot you while you do some bench presses or something. That way you'll start to build up muscle without pushing yourself too hard at first."

"The weight room?" Sena repeated, blinking slowly.

He'd never even been inside one before.

"Yes, it would probably be more beneficial for you to slowly build up your muscle strength rather than, uh, tackling the problem right away." Sakuraba finished awkwardly.

He wished Takami were there, or even Shin, they'd be able to explain the pros of going to the weight room and the cons of what Sena was currently doing as naturally as it was for them to breath.

"... Would other people be there?" Sena _did not_ want to train in a weight room if a bunch of huge, strong guys were around to scoff at him and his lack of strength.

Especially if those huge, strong guys included either Gaou or Shin.

"Well, there might be some guys still lingering around, but they'd be too busy with their own training to pay anyone else any attention."

Sakuraba _did_ have a point there, and he had a feeling that the tall boy wouldn't give up until he'd agreed anyways, so Sena nodded his consent.

"Great, I'll help you put those away before we head back." Sakuraba glanced at his watch. "It's still a while till curfew, but I think you need a break."

"Ah, but I still have to..." Sena trailed off when Sakuraba sent a expectant look his way.

Well, he couldn't really go against an upperclassman's request, right?

"Okay."

He just hoped this weight room plan worked.


	4. Chapter 4

FASH: Went back and fixed some mistakes that were in the last chapter, I always seem miss something when I proof read, oh well. This probably hasn't seemed very Shin/Sena so far, but we're finally taking a small step forward in that direction.

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

The weekend came to an end, school started back up, and it seemed like he'd barely started practising when Sakuraba had come to fetch him and guide him to the weight room.

"Ah, so you're the type who doesn't notice time go by when you concentrate on something, huh? You're kind of like Shin in that respect." Sakuraba said when he'd made a comment about time flying by.

Sena rose an eyebrow and opened his mouth to deny that he had anything in common with his room mate.

"It's Sakuraba-sempai!"

The blonde flinched at the sound of his name and immediately rushed down the hallway, flinging himself into an empty classroom.

Sena had ceased all movement to watch the blonde's frantic actions and threw a look over his shoulder at the one who had called out.

There was a group of girls, Sena recognized a couple of them from his class, and one of them was pointing at the spot where Sakuraba had been before he had taken off. They were excitedly whispering amongst themselves but thankfully kept walking along the adjacent hallway, not venturing any further towards where the blonde had hidden himself.

When they were finally out of sight Sena calmly walked towards the classroom Sakuraba had rushed into, knocking on the door lightly. "They're gone."

Sakuraba slowly opened the door, a somewhat sheepish expression spreading over his face as he rubbed at his jaw.

"... Sakuraba-san, are you afraid of girls?"

"I wouldn't say afraid, I'm just... _Wary_ of them. I don't like being stalked around."

"Stalked?" Sena repeated, thinking about when Sakuraba had found him training and how the other boy had seemed paranoid. "Why would they stalk you?"

Sakuraba floundered for a moment, not knowing quite what to say. "Girls, uh, tend to find me really attractive."

Sena slowly looked the older boy up and down, as if to assure himself that, yes, Sakuraba was a fine male specimen, even though he had already known before hand. "I see, and you don't like the attention?"

"Not really, it gets excessive."

"Hmm." Sena had never had time for girls and none of them ever bothered him, so he couldn't even imagine what being followed around by _infatuated_ females was like. "Sounds tough."

Sakuraba nodded, his fingers once again tracing over his jaw. "Takami-san just laughs when I tell him about it, even though he gets this creepy look in his eyes whenever..." He trailed off and Sena blinked up at him curiously.

"Whenever what?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, let's go!"

-x-x-x-

Upon entering the_ mysterious place_ known as the weight room Sakuraba had chosen out a pair of small dumbbells for him and instructed him to do some bicep curls.

"Just do fifteen for each side, and remember to do it slowly." The blonde reminded him, rubbing the palm of his hand against his jaw absentmindedly.

Sena nodded and lifted up the small set of weights, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Sakuraba.

"Sakuraba-san, you've been rubbing at your jaw bone a lot, is it bothering you?"

The second year quickly pulled his hand away from his face as if he'd been chastised. "Ah, I think I might have a cavity in one of my molars, it's been bugging me lately, but I'll make an appointment to get it checked soon, so don't worry about it."

They had both gone through a couple rounds of simple lifting exercises and had done some upright rowing on the cable machine when Sakuraba finally brought him to the bench press, informing him that, since neither of them were sure how much Sena would be able to lift at first, they'd just start with the barbell and add weight plates on when he felt he could handle it.

"Just remember to inhale as you lift and exhale as you bring it down." The blonde had added helpfully as Sena griped the bar and lifted it off of the handles that kept it in place.

"H-how heavy is the barbell on it's own?" Sena asked as he slowly brought the bar down to his chest before lifting it up again.

"Twenty kilos."

'Twenty kilos isn't bad, it's over twice the weight of the shot put balls I've been using.'

When he finally set the bar back down on the handles Sakuraba suggested they take a short break and tossed a bottle of water his way.

"Sakuraba-san, what club are you a member of?" Sena asked, pressing the cool water bottle against his forehead before taking a drink.

"The American football club."

"Oh really?" Sena had been half expecting to hear that he was on the basketball team, considering how tall the blonde was. "I heard that the American football club has been doing pretty well."

"Yeah, we've got enough devoted players to keep ourselves from getting eliminated from tournaments too early."

"Most of the other clubs don't have very many dedicated members though, right? Did something happen to fire you guys up or what?"

Sakuraba chuckled. "I guess you could say that." At Sena's questioning look he continued. "Several years back one of Takami-san's sempai on the team made a pretty big impression which caused the middle school football club to go into a recruiting frenzy. He graduated before I reached the high school division, but Takami-san says he was amazing."

"Oh? So a bunch of your team has been together since middle school?"

"Yeah, we get a couple more committed members every year, but the majority of the team has been the same for years now."

"It must be nice, to have a team mate in the dorm with you that is." Sena would have loved to be in a dorm with Higa, but it seemed fate was against him on that account.

"Not just _a _team mate, Shin, Marco-kun and Gaou-kun are all in the club as well."

Sena took a sip of his water, eyebrows furrowing. "Did they group you all together on purpose?"

"Who knows?"

After their break it was Sakuraba's turn to do the bench press. He modestly claimed that he wasn't nearly as strong as some as his team mates, and then proceeded to bench press what seemed to be more than double of what Sena had been able to do.

It was a good thing Sakuraba could handle the weight, because if he somehow ended up with the barbell pressing against his chest and unable to lift it anymore, Sena didn't think he would have been much help.

Once Sakuraba was finished they both did a couple stretches to cool their muscles down before heading back to their dorm. Takami had raised an eyebrow at their entering together, but pushed his curiosity aside when Sakuraba, upon biting into an apple, winced in pain. Then he was suddenly swarming around Sakuraba as if he'd just seen the other boy spit out a bloody tooth.

'Ah, it must be so nice to live with team mates.' Sena thought with a sigh as he finished eating and set about tidying up the kitchen, which was once again falling into disarray.

When there was some semblance of order he exited the kitchen, Sakuraba trailing after him while repressing a smile at Takami's concern.

"Just meet up with me in the weight room once you're finished practice tomorrow, okay?" The blonde suggested, his lips twitching upwards when Takami's worry was temporarily replaced by obvious curiosity.

"Sure thing." Sena stepped into his empty room, pausing when he spied something under Shin's dresser.

Curious and thinking that maybe it was a project that had somehow been kicked under the cover of the piece of furniture he knelt down to pull it into plain sight.

"Wh-_What?_"

Sena was shocked to see adorable balls of fluff covering the front, and even went as far as rubbing at his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Shin had a kitten calendar, how very, well, _strange_. Shin didn't seem the type to own anything relatively cute.

Sena quickly concluded that it had been given to him by his mother, because really, _kittens_? He was in the eleventh grade, and was incredibly masculine, no wonder he had hidden it under his dresser.

Sena pushed it back underneath the dresser and got ready for bed.

The following morning passed by as it normally did, although his arms ached a little during his morning jog, and soon enough classes began. One of the female classmates he'd seen with the group of Sakuraba-infatuated-girls had approached him during lunch, fishing for information on the second year. Sena was somehow able to put an end to it by suggesting she ask Gaou, seeing as the large boy _was_ in the same club as Sakuraba.

Too bad Gaou appeared to have heard him suggest that, because the other boy had turned their way quite abruptly, effectively scaring both the girl and Sena out of their wits.

He'd actually been looking forward to meeting up with Sakuraba after practice, since the previous day had been more fun than he had expected, which is why, upon entering the weight room, he felt himself freeze in disbelief.

There was no reason for Shin, _not Sakuraba_, to be there. He was just seeing things, right?

"Takami-san scheduled a dental appointment for Sakuraba today, I shall be his replacement." Shin stated and Sena could hardly keep himself from physically slumping over.

'_Why?_'

Well, there wasn't anything he could do about this without making everything more awkward, so it would probably be best to just re-do everything he had done yesterday and pretend Shin wasn't there.

But it was hard to ignore the awkward silence that seemed to settle over them as Sena began. He hadn't really thought much of his and Sakuraba's chit-chatting the previous day, but conversing with someone, even about nonsensical, unimportant things, made him feel so much more at ease than being _silently stared at._

He'd finished his bicep curls and a set of kickbacks when, not able to take any more of the silence, he abruptly set down the weights and decided to finally ask what had been bothering him this entire time.

"Shin-san, have I offended you somehow?" He leaned forward slightly as he asked, wanting to study the older boy's expression just in case he tried lying.

He wasn't prepared for Shin's taken aback look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you never really talk to me, even when I try to start conversations. On the second day, after I got my luggage, I thought that we were progressing a little, but then you went back to how you were before, so I figured I had done something wrong."

Shin looked vaguely guilty and seemed to blatantly refuse to meet Sena's eyes. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Sena wasn't convinced and leaned forward even more. "Can you look me in the eyes and say that?"

Shin very slowly turned his gaze away from a point beyond Sena's shoulder, and Sena felt his breath catch in his throat when their eyes finally met.

Come to think of it, he wasn't sure if Shin had ever looked him directly in the eyes whenever he'd spoken to him before, maybe that's why it felt so shocking.

Shock turned to dismay when, after mere seconds of holding his gaze, Shin looked away.

"You can't do it, can you?" Sena asked softly. "You just can't forgive me."

Shin's eyes snapped back up. "Forgive you for what?"

The brunette shook his head and stood, wanting to get out as soon as possible. "I don't know, you tell me." He said as he left, feeling more depressed than he thought he ought to.

Well, Shin was at least being civil to him, probably to avoid dorm drama, but he wished the older boy could put the past behind him and be a little more friendly, they were room mates after all.

'I guess it's impossible to be friends though.'

-x-x-x-

Sakuraba had been puzzling over a particularly difficult equation when Shin, who sat directly in front of him, turned around in his seat. "I believe I have caused a misunderstanding of sorts."

Sakuraba looked up from his math work book, morbidly curious. "What exactly do you mean by 'misunderstanding'?" He asked softly.

"Kobayakawa-kun seems to be under the impression that I dislike him."

The blonde took a moment to absorb the statement and what it implied before frowning. "_Shin_. What did you _do_ yesterday, I told you to be nice!"

Several of their classmates turned to look at them and Shin thankfully waited until they turned their attention back to their work before whispering back.

"I do not know, Kobayakawa-kun thinks that I dislike him due to something he's done."

"Did you tell him he didn't do anything wrong?"

"Yes, quite clearly."

"Were you not convincing enough? You didn't say it while you were starring at a wall or something did you?"

Shin stayed silent and Sakuraba felt a distinct urge to hit something, but he settled for giving Shin an incredulous look.

"You didn't look at him while reassuring him? No wonder he thinks you don't like him, you need to look him in the eyes and tell him the truth."

"I... Can't..."

"What do you mean you ca- Oh." Sakuraba's voice lowered even further. "Is this your _complex_ again?"

Shin nodded slowly and Sakuraba sighed.

"Well, that explains a lot, but you're going to have to tell him about it, otherwise he's going to keep on thinking you dislike him."

To an outsider Shin's expression would have seemed as neutral as ever, but Sakuraba had known the other boy long enough to be able to tell how uncomfortable he was. Shin didn't like people knowing about his complex, it was practically a miracle that Sakuraba knew about it and he was Shin's _best friend_ for crying out loud.

Shin wasn't going to tell Sena about it, not unless the first year put what he thought was going on aside and outright demanded to know the truth. Even then Shin might keep his lips sealed.

"Do you and Kobayakawa-kun meet in the weight room regularly?"

"Well, we're planning to, at least until he doesn't need to practice throwing events any more."

"Throwing events?"

"He's in the track and field club. You know how Yamamoto-san is..." Sakuraba trailed off at Shin's blank expression. "You do _remember_ who Yamamoto-san is, right?"

"No."

Sakuraba sighed, he should have known. "In any case, he's having his club members practice what they're worst at, which is okay, I guess, but I thought Sena was pushing himself too hard, so I offered to spot for him in the weight room so that he could progress at a more natural pace."

"I see." Shin's eyebrows furrowed slightly and Sakuraba turned back to his work, assuming the conversation was over.

"I will spot him from now on."

Sakuraba fought to keep himself from sputtering. "How's that going to help?"

"Willingly spending time with Kobayakawa-kun will make him realize I do not dislike him, correct? I will spot him from now on." He repeated determinedly.

"Well, if that makes you feel better..." Sakuraba trailed off as Shin nodded and turned back around. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on his math any more, especially when he thought of what would be unfolding later on in the day.

'I hope Sena-kun doesn't get too much of a shock.'

-x-x-x-

'Why do things turn out like this?' Sena internally cried, curbing the urge to run back to Higa and just practice with _him_ some more. 'Calm down, there must be a reason for this.'

"Shin-san... What are you doing here? Where's Sakuraba-san?" Sena asked, peering over Shin's shoulder as if the taller boy could have hidden behind him.

"Sakuraba is once again unable to make it, so I shall be filling in for him again." Shin stated, his eyes focussed on a spot just above Sena's head.

The brunette couldn't help but feel just _slightly_ suspicious, but Sakuraba was a nice enough guy, so he must have had another appointment that he'd forgotten to tell him about.

Weight training somehow felt even more awkward than it had the day before, and every time Sena glanced in Shin's direction the older boy would be staring at him, an extremely concentrated look on his face.

'Sc-scary.'

If Shin didn't like him that much, one would assume that he'd tell Sakuraba to get someone else to spot for him.

'Maybe he doesn't dislike me as much as I think he does?' Sena snuck another glance at him and discovered that Shin was looking at him with the same intensely concentrated look as before.

'But he's still scary.'

Maybe, once he got a little more used to Shin's... Intensity, he'd give the older boy another chance to explain himself.

Once Sena was finished with his exercises Shin excused himself to go jogging, asking Sena to be so kind as to inform Takami that he'd be finished before curfew, so the third year didn't need to worry about him.

'You'd think he'd ask Sakuraba-san to just find someone else to fill in for him, that way his normal routine wouldn't get messed up.'

He just _could not_ understand the second year.

When he discovered Shin waiting for him in the weight room for the third day in a row, Sena wasn't quite sure what to do.

"... Sakuraba-san has another appointment?" The brunette asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow as Shin nodded.

'Well, there's nothing I can do about it. Sakuraba-san must have a reason for this, and Shin-san hasn't really_ done_ anything that indicates he dislikes me.'

The staring was still creepy though, and Sena just couldn't completely relax when he could imagine he was starting to _feel_ Shin's gaze on him.

It may not have been as awkward as the first two nights, but Sena wasn't sure if he could ever get used to this.

When he returned to the dorm, alone once again, he made himself something simple to munch on before going to his room and climbing up to his bunk to finish his homework.

He was halfway through reading the assigned chapters for history when he slowly came to realization that his stuffed animal was laying length-wise across his pillow, unseeing eyes staring at the far side of the room.

It may not have seemed very strange, but he usually set the plushie down facing the wall, beside, not on top of, his pillow, and he was pretty certain that he'd placed it the way he normally did that morning.

'Well, whatever.' He was too busy and stressed to worry about a stuffed animal facing the wrong way.


	5. Chapter 5

FASH: Sorry for the wait, but I think I've finally settled back into my school-work routine so I should be able to update fairly regularly again.

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

Sena blinked incredulously and took several steps forward to where the shot put ball had landed, prodding his arm curiously in an attempt to figure out if his muscles had somehow grown in the four days he'd been going to the weight room.

He'd never managed to throw it this far before.

"Hmm, it seems like you're getting better." Higa commented absentmindedly from where he was standing a few feet away, practising with the javelins.

"Yeah..." Maybe those three awkward days with Shin (and one un-awkward day with Sakuraba) had actually been worth it in the end...

But he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle Shin's unhostlie, but _distinctly_ silent presence. He sort of understood that Shin was doing this to prove that he didn't hate him, because there was no way Sakuraba would have so many appointments in a row, but was it too much to ask for a little friendly conversation to keep things from going awkward?

Not that he knew what they'd be able to talk about, other than bland topics such as the weather.

But standing almost right beside him was someone his age, who was in the same club as him, spoke freely to him and, most probably, shared a couple more similar interests with him. The ideal training companion, as long as he used the weight room too.

"Higa-kun, do you do any weight training?"

Higa paused and threw him a curious look before slowly answering. "Yeah, I've got a small set of weights in my room," Sena visibly deflated. "but I was thinking that I should practice with some of the bigger stuff in the weight room every once in a while."

"Really?" Sena perked right back up, if he suggested that he and Higa spot each other in the weight rooms, then he wouldn't have to worry about Shin anymore!

"Did you want to-"

"Kobayakawa-kun!" Yamamoto interrupted, waving at him as he approached from the direction of the field. "Come over here for a second."

Higa shot him a curious look and Sena shrugged before lightly jogging over to the third year.

"What did you need to speak to me about, captain?"

Maybe he wasn't improving at a steady enough rate?

"Don't look so nervous, you've been doing really great so far, you've improved a lot, so I wanted to give you some encouragement." Yamamoto patted his back. "I suppose that's a scholarship student for you, way more drive than anyone else."

"How did you know that I was-"

"I'm the team captain, I know these things." He smiled brightly. "It's probably been pretty hard, practising what you're worst at, but just stick with it a little longer and then you can move on to jumping events."

"Really?"

"Of course! But remember to keep practising hard, even if you'll be moving on to other events soon."

"I will." Sena responded, then as an afterthought continued. "Captain?"

"Hm?"

"It's just, did you know that you gave me the heavier shot put balls?"

"Of course, it's best to push your limits early on, don't you think?!"

Sena gave a small smile in return. 'That's what I thought.'

"Ah, I'd better go encourage Higa-kun too so he doesn't feel left out! Remember to keep practising hard, Kobayakawa-kun." He repeated.

"I will." Sena replied once more with a smile.

Yamamoto was such a nice guy, it was a pity that there weren't too many dedicated members on the track and field team.

'But Sakuraba-san said that it was all because of one person that the football team became popular, right? So if me and Higa-kun, and all the other first year members work really hard together, then we'll be able to show everyone how cool the track and field team is, and then the same thing that happened for the football team will happen for us!'

Sena pumped a fist into the air victoriously before pausing.

'Just how many other first years are still with the team, anyways?'

There really hadn't been that many to begin with, and he knew for certain that at least two were already gone...

'Well, even if in the end it's just Higa-kun and I, I'm sure through our hard work and effort we'll be able to get some people pumped up!'

He went back to his practice, already deliriously happy as he envisioned what their first track and field meet would be like, and wondering how many people they'd inspire to work hard as well. The happy bubble popped when practice came to an end and he made his way to the weight room where Shin would more than likely be waiting for him.

And he still hadn't asked Higa if he wanted to do weight training together with him. Damn.

When he entered the practically deserted weight room Shin looked even more serious than usual, which Sena immediately took as a _bad sign_.

"Shin-san, is something wrong?"

Shin patted the space beside him and Sena cautiously sat down, somehow managing to hold back his shock when Shin looked him in the eyes.

"We need to talk." The older boy said in a voice that indicated he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"O-okay, about what?"

"About why I act the way I do around you."

Sena leaned in curiously as Shin took a deep breath.

"I have a type of complex."

Sena slowly digested that information and wondered if he should discreetly widen the physical gap between them.

"When you say 'complex' do you mean something like a lolita complex?"

It was difficult imagining Shin as any sort of pervert, but then again it was hard to tell what those silent, repressed types were like when they were alone.

The older boy gave him a vaguely curious look. "What is a 'lolita'?"

"Uh, never mind, continue."

"It's not that I dislike you, or that you did anything, I'm just not..."

"You're not what?" Sena gently prompted.

"I'm just not comfortable... Around things like you."

Sena's eyebrow twitched. "_Things_ like me?"

"People like you." Shin corrected.

"What do you mean, _people_ _like me_?" Sena asked suspiciously.

"I have a... Fixation of sorts, mostly it doesn't involve other people, but there is a certain demographic of the population that can affect me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"..."

"Shin-san, please, _please_ tell me why you don't feel comfortable around me."

"I like cute things." He answered bluntly.

"... Beg pardon?"

"I like cute things."

"Oh."

The kitten calendar, the way Shin had been staring at his cat plushie, and how he'd found it facing the wrong way as if someone had been handling it, it all made some sort of _weird sense_ now.

"Wait, does that mean you think I'm cute?"

"Like a kitten." Shin said with a nod.

"So, you're not..." Sena paused, not sure if he wanted to ask whether or not being 'cute' made Shin find him attractive. "You find lots of people cute, right?"

There was a flicker of unease, or maybe Sena just imagined it, crossing over Shin's face for just moment before he nodded.

Sena sighed in relief. "So you're just like this around me because you find it hard to talk to me?"

"Yes, when I attempted to make conversation with you on your second day here I found that it was more difficult that expected and thought it would be best to avoid conversation, I am... Sorry for any inconvenience my choice caused you."

"Oh no, it's okay, if I had a, uh, condition, like that I don't think I'd have the guts to tell anyone, I'm glad you told me. For the longest time I thought that you were holding a grudge against me for something I did the first time we met."

"The first time we met?" Shin repeated and Sena nodded, not noticing how Shin's cheeks had gone two shades darker.

"Yeah, I can't even remember that far back, so I've been thinking that I did something to make you mad at me for _years_."

Shin's eyes were glued to the ground and he wrung his hands together in his lap. "I am sorry."

"Oh no, you don't have to apologize, I just misunderstood, it's not your fault." Sena said with a reassuring smile.

Shin didn't hate him, everything had just been one huge misunderstanding. Maybe this was a sign that everything would be smooth sailing from here on out.

The weight training had gone well, now that Sena knew why Shin was so awkward around him, and Shin's staring had toned down a little now that everything had been cleared up.

All in all, everything was going swimmingly.

Currently Shin was taking a shower as Sena rummaged around the kitchen, making himself something to eat and a mental note to go grocery shopping, all the while humming under his breath.

"You seem cheery, I guess that means Shin finally sorted things out between you and him."

Sena turned to look at Sakuraba, surprised. "You knew about that?"

The blonde rose his eyebrows. "Well, yeah, that's why I let Shin take over for a while."

"Oh yeah." Sena absentmindedly pushed his food around on his plate. "Sakuraba-san, do you know the reason why Shin-san acted strange around me?"

"You mean his complex? Yeah, I know about it."

"So in the past you would have noticed if Shin-san acted strange around others?"

"I suppose so."

"Has Shin-san been like _that_ to other people?"

Sakuraba rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "There's been a couple times in the past where he's been sort of like that, but he was more extreme with you I think. Usually, even if he thought someone was cute, he'd be able to talk to them somewhat normally. Were you incredible adorable as a child or something? Shin's first impression of you might have effected the way he sees you now."

"I was just a normal kid, I don't think I would have been any cuter than anyone else my age."

"Did you act cute?"

"I don't know, I was pretty shy when I was younger, but I might have been more outgoing when I first met Shin-san."

"Well," Sakuraba shrugged. "He was probably more extreme around you because of something you did when you were younger, so don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about what?" Shin asked as he walked into the kitchen, wet hair clinging to his face and neck and dripping on the collar of his pajamas.

"Oh, nothing." Sakuraba grinned widely. "So, I heard you've talked things over?"

Shin nodded and Sakuraba chuckled lightly, only pausing when he noticed the blank looks he was receiving from the other boys.

"Ah, sorry, it's just that I have this funny image of Shin in my head the first day you came here. I imagine him exiting the door, then collapsing against the wall, blushing and murmuring 'so cute' to himself."

Sena glanced at Shin out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to Sakuraba. "... Sort of like one of those tsundere characters?'"

"Yeah yeah, like that!"

"You two are aware that I am still present, correct?" Shin interrupted with a slight frown.

"Loosen up a little Shin, I know you wouldn't do that." Sakuraba said with a wave of his hand before mumbling something that sounded like 'probably' under his breath.

Shin ignored the softly spoken word and quickly turned his attention to Sena. "Kobayakawa-kun, do you eat three meals a day?"

In the background Sakuraba face-palmed before wandering away, muttering something that sounded like 'hopeless'.

"Uh, yes..." Didn't everyone?

"Considering the amount of time you put aside for training after school it would be best if you ate four smaller meals a day, one of them taking place before you began your weight training. It will give you more energy."

"Oh, okay." Well, if he said so...

Sena quickly finished eating and showered before lazily finishing off his homework. It wasn't long before Shin wandered into their room and Sena quickly put his books away and slipped into bed.

"Goodnight, Kobayakawa-kun." Shin said as he flicked off the lights.

"... Shin-san, you can call me by my first name if you want, most others do." Sena suggested.

"Ah."

Instead of feeling down at the short, noncommittal reply, Sena found himself oddly amused by it.

'I wonder if he's flustered?' Sena covered his smile with his hands out of reflex at the thought. 'His personality seems surprisingly adorable now.'

"Shin-san?"

"Yes?"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight... Sena-kun."

Sena went to sleep with a huge smile on his face.

"Well, you seem rather chipper today." Marco remarked dryly when Sena practically skipped into the kitchen after his morning run.

"Oh, you can tell?" The smaller brunette inquired with a smile.

"It's hard to miss, did a girl you like speak with you?"

"Huh? Oh, no." He'd just been thinking that, since Shin didn't hate him and he didn't feel as awkward around the second year anymore, maybe he could ask Shin if he could join him during his morning run.

Getting a running buddy was better than talking to a girl any day of the week.

"Really?" Marco rose an eyebrow in disbelief, but didn't question him any further.

He didn't see Shin in the dorm before he left, they'd probably just missed each other, bit being secure in the knowledge that he'd see the second year after practice kept his good mood going strong all throughout his classes.

'Running with Shin-san, weight training with Higa-kun, this is going to be so much fun!' He was certain that neither of them would say no to his requests.

The end of school approached and as usual Sena packed up his things quickly, eager to start another day of practice and talk to Higa about doing weight training together. He'd almost put away all of his things when someone came to a stop in front of his desk.

"Hey, Kobayakawa-kun," Sena looked up, not entirely too surprised to see the nameless female Sakuraba fan who'd tried to weasel information out of him before. "Is it true that you're a," She leaned in a little, lowering her voice. "Scholarship student?"

Sena's jaw dropped. "How did you-"

"I was passing by the old baseball diamond yesterday, and I overheard someone talking to you."

Sena internally groaned, Yamamoto had been too loud, which really wouldn't have bothered him if it had been _someone else_ in his class to overhear it.

The girl in front of him examined her nails carefully as she spoke, as if a single imperfection would cause her demise. "It's not entirely surprising, I mean, you don't have any outstanding connections or anything, except for with Sakuraba-sempai, but that's just coincidence. Still, I wonder why it seems like no one else knows this?"

Sena stared at her blankly, knowing that she was probably trying to threaten him for information on Sakuraba, but not feeling very intimidated. He'd made a couple _down to Earth_ friends already and Shin _didn't hate him_, at this point he didn't really care if everyone found out he was here due to a sports scholarship.

"Listen, um, what was your name?"

She frowned at him. "Suzuki Ai."

"Suzuki-san, I really don't think friends should disclose information about each other, so I'm sorry, but if you want to know something about Sakuraba-san, please ask him." He said as he finished packing up and rose out of his chair.

Ai gaped at him. "But I know your secret!"

"The friends I've made so far are nice people, I'm sure they won't care how I managed to get into this school. Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned and walked away, feeling quite at ease.

He was sure Higa, Sakuraba, Takami and Marco wouldn't care about his parent's finances, while Shin and Yamamoto already knew, and it wasn't like he was the only scholarship student in the school. Even if Ai told his classmates about his situation, what was the worst that could happen?

The thought that Ai might do something drastic out of frustration didn't cross his mind at all.


	6. Chapter 6

FASH: Okay, this came a little late due to various Christmas stuff but I'm baaaack_. _Hope everyone's having a good holiday season so far and has been catching up on sleep. (I know I have been, too many all nighters make me stranger than usual.)

""-speech

''-thoughts

-x-x-x-

He'd been, as Marco had previously commented, 'chipper' all throughout his club time, and had possibly become even more so as it came to a close and he made his way to the weight room.

And then, as discourteous as it may seem of him, his spirits suddenly dropped.

Sakuraba blinked at him curiously and Sena tried to appear as excited as he had been before. It wasn't as if he didn't like Sakuraba, but he'd been expecting to see Shin, even if the older boy had only taken over his weight training for several days.

"Hello, Sakuraba-san." He greeted with a wan smile which the blonde warmly returned.

"Shin figured that since you understand him now, he could hand the controls over to me again." Sakuraba paused to give Sena an all knowing grin. "Are you starting to miss him already? Maybe he did a better job than me."

"Oh no, that's not it! I just got used to him, that's all."

Shin was his roommate after all, he could just ask about joining him during his morning run later, but he'd been so amped up about asking him as soon as his club activities were over that being unable to ask made him feel completely drained.

And Sakuraba, who seemed to have the eyes of a hawk, noticed.

"You know, you train a ridiculous amount, resting your muscles up would probably do you some good."

Sena's eyebrows rose comically and he tilted his head to the side. "Rest? I get plenty of rest."

"... You and Shin are disturbingly similar when it comes to training."

"... I suppose I'm not meant to take that as a compliment."

Sakuraba ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly. "Well, it's good that you're so dedicated, but you're still in your first year of high school, shouldn't you be going out and having fun?"

"I have plenty of fun during club time practising with Higa-kun." Sena answered honestly.

"Well, yeah, but don't you ever want to go out and look around the neighbourhood, I mean, I don't think you've really left the school grounds since you came here, and if you have you haven't gone very far."

Sena pursed his lips together, unable to deny it.

"Come on, just humour me and take the day off, you should do what your upperclassman tells you, you know? Besides, I'll even take you to a place I know you'll like."

"Really?" Sena leaned in a little, curious. "And where would that be?"

"You'll see when we get there." The blonde replied with a large smile before walking past Sena towards the exit, the first year trailing behind him, intrigued.

How could Sakuraba be so sure he'd like the place he was taken?

'Maybe this is just some sort of elaborate scheme to get me off the school grounds?'

If so, Sakuraba must be a total mother-hen on the inside, to be this worried about how much Sena got out. Well, even if that was the case, it was kind of sweet, and maybe giving himself an hour or so to explore the surrounding area wouldn't be such a bad idea.

He followed Sakuraba faithfully, becoming even more curious when, instead of leading him to a game center or some other form of teenager hangout, the second year lead him though an array of neighbourhoods, slowing to a stop as soon as he reached a certain street.

"Alright, now we just need to-"

"Sakuraba-kun!"

Both male's heads whipped around at the shriek and, although there was only one love struck female present, both quickly came to the decision to run the hell away.

Thankfully it was all too easy to get off of the girl's radar by turning onto a couple streets and ducking between a pair of very close houses, but just the fact that Sakuraba had to deal with these sorts of situations outside of school was mind-numbing.

"Is it like this when you're in class too?"

"It's not so bad in class because Shin's always around me, and since people who don't know him very well tend to get unnerved around him I'm not bothered as much."

"So if Shin-san weren't there, it would be as if you were..."

"A lamb thrown into a den of wolves."

"I may have said this before, but wow, you're _scarily_ popular."

"_Horrifyingly_." Sakuraba readily agreed. "I suppose it came with the business."

"Business?"

Sakuraba threw him a bewildered look before waving his hand in a dismissive manner. "Don't worry about it, all that matters now is that we're here."

Sena glanced around, trying to find something secretly wonderful about the place they were currently hiding.

"Here as in we're _almost there_, or here as in there's some sort of secret doorway located on one of these walls that leads to who-knows-what?"

"Here as in we're _here_." Sakuraba stated as he confidently stepped out onto the sidewalk, Sena following behind him once more, furrowing his eyebrows at the houses on the other side of the street.

"I must admit, I'm a little confused."

"Shin always jogs around here, as long as we stay in this neighbourhood we'll see him sooner or later."

Okay, so maybe the location wasn't as random as it seemed, but still...

"How do you know we'll see him?" Sena asked, cocking an eyebrow when Sakuraba smiled and pointed just over the brunette's shoulder, prompting Sena to turn around and catch sight of a tabby cat, casually wandering down the street.

"A cat?" 'Well, Shin-san does like cute things...'

"Shin adores cats, and there's a bunch of free roaming cats that live around here, that's why he circles around this area a lot." Sakuraba stated in a matter-of-fact voice. "And, as they say in English: _speak of the devil and he doth appear_."

Sena stared, English being far from his forte, and with a bemused sigh Sakuraba turned him back around to see Shin, jogging in their direction.

"So he comes around here pretty often?"

"Yeah, if he really wants to concentrate more than he already does he'll just run around the campus, but I think he likes running this route a lot more."

'So he really does train a lot. Doing the weight training with me probably cut into a lot of his usual practice time, but he still went through with it to clear up the misunderstanding between us. He's a really nice guy.'

Shin came to an abrupt stop and Sena, worried that they'd been spotted and would be interrogated, ducked back between the houses, peering out curiously when Sakuraba didn't follow suit.

Shin had crouched down and was unsuccessfully trying to lure the tabby cat from before closer to him.

Sakuraba hid a smile behind his hand and stepped back into their hiding spot. "And this is where it gets interesting."

Sena squinted at the blonde's back before settling his eyes on Shin once again. How interesting could this possibly get? Was Shin like a modern version of Doctor Dolittle or Ace Ventura?

The tabby cat wandered just a little closer to Shin, staying still as the second year reached out to pet him-

-only to chomp down on his fingers as soon as they were within range before walking away, just as casual as it had been before.

Sena winced in sympathy while Sakuraba just shook his head in amused exasperation.

"No matter how many times he gets clawed at or bitten he just keeps trying to lure them to him. Cats. They're his one true weakness." He finished with a wide smile as he slipped past Sena, venturing further between the houses.

"Right, I suppose I can believe that. Where are you going?"

"No where in particular at the moment, just away, you'd better come along so you don't get lost." He responded without turning around, but Sena could _hear _the smile in his voice.

"Shouldn't we just backtrack? We can just wait for Shin-san to go past."

"Don't worry, I won't get us lost. I know this area like the back of my hand."

Sena furrowed his eyebrows. "Does that mean you come to watch him often?"

"Well sort of..." Sakuraba trailed off and tensed. "But not in a weird way. I just think it's sort of... _Refreshing_ to catch him unawares."

"Oh..." That was a rather strange reason, but if seeing Shin coax animals towards him only to get scratched made Sakuraba feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, well, to each is own.

"Also, back when I used to try and keep up with him I'd end up following him around this area, so it's not like I only know my way around here because I'm a stalker or something." Sakuraba turned around, eyebrows furrowing. "Not that I think of myself as anything like a stalker, especially for Shin." He turned back around, muttering something under his breath about Takami and murder.

Sena, who's attention had been caught by the news that Shin had, at one point in time at least, trained with someone else during his free time, didn't register the stalker comments at all and followed after Sakuraba with a new found curiosity. "You and Shin-san used to train together by yourselves?"

"Sort of, for a while there were a couple more guys with us too, but I'm sure by now you've witnessed for yourself the 'notorious Oonishi spirit' and can guess what happened to most of them."

"Did Shin-san mind training with other people in his free time though? Or did he just sort of _ignore_ them?"

Sakuraba paused before turning around once again. "In other words: do I think he'd mind if someone wanted to go running with him again?"

Sena shuffled to a stop and wrung his hands together. He hadn't realized he was being obvious, maybe Sakuraba had some sort of intense insight. "Yes."

"Well, I _think_ he likes training alone, not many people can keep up with his pace, or keep going as long as he does. Plus I think he'd rather keep his more vulnerable side to himself." Sakuraba explained, finishing off with a secretive wink.

"I see."

Would he be able to keep up with Shin's pace? He'd like to think so, but if Shin liked training alone he didn't want to pester him about running together.

Well, maybe not pester him _as much_.

He followed after Sakuraba for a while longer before coming to the realization that he didn't recognize any of the surrounding buildings at all, and not only that, but he was almost certain that they were straying further from the school grounds with every step.

"Sakuraba-san, isn't the school in the other direction?"

"You didn't think I got you off of school property just to show you the area where Shin sometimes comes to jog did you? I've at least got to show you _some_ places where other students go to hang out."

"But won't we run into more girls if we go to the places other students hang out?" Sena asked, half wanting to see what Sakuraba's reaction would be and half wanting to go back to their dorm.

Sakuraba came to a stop momentarily, as if he were contemplating something. "Well, we're more athletic than most, if not all, of the girls that attend our school, so we should be able to escape fairly easily if the need arises."

And with that said he strolled forward, Sena trailing after him with an amused smile.

-x-x-x-

Although it felt weird to admit that anything other than practice could be enjoyable, something that, now that it had been forcefully brought to his attention _several times_, did make him wonder if he seemed like a rather _strange child_, the previous day had been fun and he wouldn't mind doing it again.

With certain parts omitted anyways; specifically the parts where girls caught sight of Sakuraba and either stared at him unnervingly or tried to catch his attention by yelling his name or running right at him.

And speaking of the peculiar behavioural patterns of the females who attended Oonishi High, something fishy was most definitely going on. He hadn't really noticed it in the morning, but as the day wore on their attention became a lot more obvious and _very hard_ to ignore.

It was strange, three fifths of the girls he encountered appeared to hate his very existence, one fifth tended to stare at him as if he were a curious science project about to be dissected, and then the final fifth practically drooled every time they saw him. All three of these reactions to his presence were unusual, as he tended to ignore the presence of females, and they in turn ignored him until any track and field meets were held, but once those were over they usually went back to ignoring him.

So what exactly had he done to gain attention when their first meet still had yet to happen?

'Ah, maybe Suzuki-san told them I got a sports scholarship to come here?'

But if that were the case, why was it only girls that were reacting? All the boys he came across didn't act any different towards him at all, but if Ai really had wanted to ostracize him, why would she only tell the girls?

'Maybe she didn't tell them, and they're just reacting because of something else?' Sena frowned and brushed his bangs away from his eyes as he attempted to think of a reason why girls would be reacting to him in this sort of manor without luck.

'It's no use, I just don't understand girls.'

But maybe if he talked to someone who did, he'd get an answer. But who was he on speaking terms with that understood girls?

Sakuraba was too freaked out by them to understand them, Shin would be too busy training to bother trying to understand them, Takami seemed like he'd understand them on a theoretical level at least, but that wasn't really what Sena was going for...

'Wait! Marco-kun has a girlfriend! He probably understands them!'

At least, he hoped he did.


End file.
